Le Tour De France 2014

[T]

Really looking forward to the start of the Tour and its nice to see it in the UK, shame that Wiggins isn't riding this year guess you can't have too many superstars in the sky team....hopefully team Sky will have a good tour and hope Cavendish gets a few sprint wins... Contador will be up there

hoping its going to be a good tour to watch

[T]

Fair points, but you can say that about other sports regarding PEDs e.g. Athletics... so not just Cycling and yeah cycling has had some bad headlines in the past....

Well, maybe boring for some, but love watching it... more of a team event Le Tour, so the team gotta work together to try and win....

[T]

Looks like its a fantastic turnout for the day, which is great to see well done to everyone involved.

Wish i was over there at the mo...

[T]

Originally Posted by buttonlane

Ignore me i'm just being a nobhead.

They are coming through Manchester......Which probably isnt a wise decision.

No worries fella everyone has different opinions on stuff....

They hit near Rochdale then back into Yorkshire on stage 2 also go thru Derbyshire.....

[Olly.]

Hopefully will go and see them on Monday when they come through the east of England

[T]

Damn that's a bad crash for Mark Cavendish looks like his tour maybe over, looks like a collarbone injury tis a shame if it is, looking at it though looks like it was him who was at fault for the crash...

[incommunicado]

Great crowds, weather, and stunning scenery, watched it all day(with a bit of tennis & F1). Hard to think it's 20 years since i went to watch Chris Boardman on the Portsmouth - Basingstoke leg. There was a dozen of us cyclists on the grass verge of a bend near the junction to Lasham Airfield. The Gendarms went past followed by half hour of French advertising cars, then the pelaton, which passed by effortlessly in a couple of seconds making this quiet whirring noise, couldn't make out anyone.

[LittleMissMouse]

Originally Posted by T

Damn that's a bad crash for Mark Cavendish looks like his tour maybe over, looks like a collarbone injury tis a shame if it is, looking at it though looks like it was him who was at fault for the crash...

Nah, even it's broken they'll just give him a stick or something to bite on to quell the pain, Geraint whats-his-face rode t'tour with a broken pelvis last year, they're a pretty tough bunch those tour de France folk.

[T]

Originally Posted by LittleMissMouse

Nah, even it's broken they'll just give him a stick or something to bite on to quell the pain, Geraint whats-his-face rode t'tour with a broken pelvis last year, they're a pretty tough bunch those tour de France folk.

Yep he did well last year with that injury just read it's a dislocation n some ligament damage be hard to ride with that injury for him which is a shame will decide tomorrow after an MRI scan if he can still ride me thinks no

[T]

Cavendish is out of the Le Tour De France which is a shame....

Stage two today which is gonna be an interesting stage

[ßazza]

Im at my girlfriends who happens to live pretty much ontop of the beginning of stage two, (Round the corner) so I just had to step outside house to watch it. Had a great spot and took lots of pictures and video footage. After watching the preshow stuff and waiting in total around 2 hours they passed by. After hanging around a bit longer I just casually walked back indoors to the conveniently located loo. Went upstairs and took more footage from upstairs window.

Unfortunately the internet is shitting bricks presumably because of this so im having a hard time loading anything.

I cant say I care that much about it because its not something I personally follow but.. They kinda put the beginning of stage 2 on the doorstep so I felt compelled to take pictures/video footage because others have payed a lot of money to be here and I didnt have to.

Big party going on out there now but I dont really care for that either so I just ganna stay in and occasionally take some more footage from window.

Due to the fact my internet kinda sucks atm its hard for me to go look for alternate footage now. (And I dont have a tv to be able to watch event.) Im hoping to be able to find myself at some point or other in the crowd as im in front of road and right next to them as they passed by. I have my own footage but I just cant DO anything with the internet atm. It turned out pretty good though.

[Tembo]

Looking forward to tomorrow as it passes near my house!

[ßazza]

Here is some raw unedited footage. Most of the end is unnecessary but ganna edit things once im back at my home with my pc and software to do it.

I have no idea who any of them are, what the hell was happening or what to expect, but I can atleast say I attended one haha. =p

Bikes pass around 1 minute mark.

[Olly.]

^ Cool! I remember when seeing the women's tour of Britain go past a few months ago just being in awe of how huge the convoy of bicycles, motorbikes, and the numerous team cars was, incredible!

Even in the middle of the countryside, the crowds are crazy, but at the same time, there are some real idiots in them and I just watched a climb in Derbyshire on tv and it was ridiculous how close they were getting to the riders, standing in the way and cheering at them and only just getting out of the way at the last second, even patting and pushing the riders, I was half expecting to see a rider fall because some twat in the crowd pushed him and that would have been disastrous if that was the peleton! The enthusiasm for the thing is great, but some just go a bit too far.

[ßazza]

My internet is a lot better now - Pretty much back to normal. Here are some random pictures.

A woman behind me from near her door told someone stomping around in her garden to 'please dont step on the grass' hahaha. Seemed quite few people probably just went into peoples gardens and I have no idea how many of them had permission to. Some peeps climbing out of window and sitting on the small roof overhangs, as well as one guy who seemingly got on top of a tall bush/tree thing. I do have footage of them but wanted to just show the general atmosphere.

Can see in first pic how people are essentially stepping on someones flowers despite trying to stand on the wall. =p

I wish someone had a sprinkler installed and turned it on lolz. Even if I was close enough to get wet it would of been worth it to see how people reacted.

[far]

Yeah, I was standing outside, I'm guessing, a little further on from where Bazza was and the news crews were based there all morning before Le Tour passed. A little disconcerting to see your house on TV and the local news reporter pop into the bakery to get something to eat :o Was enjoyable but, unfortunately, not caught up on what happened today. Tomorrow will be interesting - is it a flatter stage than today since it's around Cambridge, Essex and London?

[Dandelion10]

We went mental when it whizzed past us in Huddersfield yesterday. It was exhilarating. I know what you mean when you say you didn't know what to expect. Thought the peloton was going to snake on for miles.

[Tembo]

Le Tour De France today passing through Epping Forest in Essex (I'm glad Britain got to see a different, much nicer, side to Essex on the TV today)....





This road is usually a very busy and fast main road, so was strange seeing it so quiet.

The atmosphere was brilliant. Was good to see something positive in my local area for once.

At one point, we thought something very serious happened, after a police motorbike clipped a young boy who ran out in to the road (luckily, no injuries). The police, support vehicles and cyclists must have started to get a little annoyed at how close the spectators were getting.

[Olly.]

I went down to Essex yesterday to see it as well, certainly not huge crowds where I was, we deliberately stayed away from the towns knowing that it would be very difficult to get anywhere near the race, or park, but there was still a fair few people in the village we ended up in. It was pretty spectacular as the peloton, 190 bikes or something came past (apparently worth £10,000 each, so a million quid's worth of bikes), over so quickly but really cool at the same time having the the most famous cycle race and world champions and olympians coming about a metre past you! Got a few decent photos:

These 2 were apparently 4 and a half minutes ahead at this point!

[Olly.]

Originally Posted by Telex

The police, support vehicles and cyclists must have started to get a little annoyed at how close the spectators were getting.

Yeah, it was awful up Holme Moss on the Yorkshire stage day, the way for the cyclists was made ridiculously narrow and people were actually touching the cyclists and patting them on the back, madness. Looked like it must have been an incredible atmosphere up there and apparently there were 50,000 on the hill and the summit, but they just got a little too enthusiastic.

[Tembo]

^ Those two were also up at the front when they past me, although the others weren't so far behind by the time they reached Epping Forest. Great photos btw.

[T]

Great pics all so jealous i couldn't get over to Yorkshire looks like it was a great few days over there and well done to all that got the tour to come to the UK.

Wow, never thought Froome and now Contador would abandon the Tour tis opened up now for Nibali to take it... plenty of crashes this year as well coming up to halfway thru too....read that Contador broke his tibia from the reports so no wonder he abandoned in the end.....

So two of the favourites have gone now, i wonder if anyone else will go too.... hope not... been a great tour with twists n turns so far....